You could not, would not, want to miss a celebration quite like this!
All three of my children have birthdays in a five-week span. I wish I had the wherewithal to do separate parties for each of them. I had intended to do something to honor them each individually. But, as the time approached, I realized they older two weren’t going to complain about having a joint party (yet, at ages 5 and 3). Since many of their friends come in a sibling packages, it worked out quite well.
In terms of party planning, I chose a nearby park and provided bagels and coffee to try to keep most of the prep simple. This left me free to focus my energies on the cake. I chose a Cat and the Hat theme, because my kids are big fans. A friend found an awesome cake from Le Petite Sweet that I used as inspiration:
I have never used fondant, but I decided I could do it for some key elements if I put my mind to it.
I baked two sheet cakes– I made the base using Martha Stewart’s devil’s food cake recipe. My sister-in-law gave me the Martha Stewart cupcake book for Christmas last year. The recipes crazy-delicious and worth the extra effort!
I topped the cake with butter cream frosting, which I tinted blue.
When I realized I wasn’t going to have enough cake, I used a box of cake mix to make an extra sheet cake, which I needed for decorating. I cut out square pieces and then used a circle cookie cutter to make the layers of the hat. I stuck the layers together with frosting.
Next I rolled out the fondant, which I bought at Michael’s. (Mine came as a dough, not rolled.) I kneaded red food dye into a section of the fondant and rolled that out, too. With flat white and red pieces, I made the shapes I needed.
I traced a small plate to form the brim of the hat, and used the same circle cutter I used on the cake pieces for the top of the hat. Notice I originally cut the brim in red, before I realized I needed a white brim.
I also cut strips of red and white for the hat, diamonds for the kites, and triangle pieces for the kite tail. Then, I remembered the alphabet cutters I have, which are apparently fondant cutters. Up until now I’ve them on everything but fondant. I cut out letters for “Happy Birthday.”
To assemble the cake, I placed the brim I had made in one corner. Next, I frosted the cake base I had made, wrapped alternating strips of red and white around it, then placed it on the cake. I positioned the kites I had made. Finally, I placed the “Happy Birthday” lettering.
To add to the party theme, we made Cat and the Hat cups, based on ideas found here: http://www.michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/2012/02/muffin-tin-monday-dr-seuss-food.html?m=1. Instead of painting them I bought white duck tape and had my kids wrap the red party cups.
I also splurged on a Thingamajigger piñata. It was HUGE (as in, the size of some of our smaller guests).
Both the cake and the piñata had very short life-spans once introduced at the party 
